| System, method and apparatus for pre-pairing bluetooth enabled devices -> Monitor Keywords |
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  System, method and apparatus for pre-pairing bluetooth enabled devicesRelated Patent Categories: Telecommunications, Transmitter And Receiver At Separate Stations, Short Range Rf CommunicationThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070123166. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
FIELD [0001] This disclosure relates to Bluetooth enabled devices, and more particularly to pairing two or more devices to avoid or reduce steps in the discovery process therebetween. BACKGROUND [0002] Bluetooth (BT) wireless technology provides a manner in which many wireless devices may communicate with one another, without connectors, wires or cables. Bluetooth technology uses the free and globally available unlicensed 2.4 GHz radio band, for low-power use, allowing two Bluetooth devices within a range of up to 10 to 100 meters to share data with throughput up to 2.1 Mbps. Each Bluetooth device can simultaneously communicate with many other devices. [0003] Current common uses for Bluetooth technology include those for headsets, cellular car kits and adapters. Moreover, Bluetooth technology is currently used for connecting a printer, keyboard, or mouse to a personal computer without cables. Also, since Bluetooth technology can facilitate delivery of large amounts of data, computers may use Bluetooth for connection to the Internet. Mobile communication devices such as cellular telephones may transfer photos, video or ring tones between them. Additional functionality is expected to continue to expand. [0004] Before two Bluetooth enabled devices may communicate, the devices must be paired. Bluetooth pairing occurs when the two Bluetooth enabled devices become a trusted pair. To become a trusted pair, two Bluetooth devices must first complete a specific discovery and authentication process. When a first Bluetooth device recognizes a second Bluetooth device and complete a specific discovery and authentication process, each device can automatically accept communication between them. [0005] Device discovery is the procedure a Bluetooth wireless device uses to locate nearby Bluetooth wireless devices with which it wishes to communicate. Exchanging the Bluetooth addresses of the discoverable devices, their friendly names and other relevant information via establishing a short term connection with each device in the vicinity can be a time consuming procedure. The procedure can involve having one Bluetooth wireless device transmitting an inquiry request to other Bluetooth wireless devices scanning for inquiry requests. A device that transmits the inquiry request (a potential master) is said to be discovering devices while the device that is scanning for inquiry requests is said to be discoverable. The discoverable device (a potential slave) performs a process called inquiry scanning, during which it looks for an inquiry request. Once a discoverable device receives an inquiry request, it responds with Frequency Hopping Synchronization (FHS) packets. These packets include, among other fields, the discoverable device's 6-byte Bluetooth device address and 3-byte Class of Device (COD). [0006] The list of the discovered devices is presented to the user. The user may select the desired device to be paired with. In one example, the Bluetooth device is a headset, and another Bluetooth device is a mobile communication device such as a cellular telephone. [0007] During the device discovery procedure it is possible to obtain further information from discoverable devices such as the Bluetooth devices friendly names. To do this the discovering device sends a page request to the discovered device's Bluetooth device address(es), at which point the discovering device initiates a short term connection with the discoverable device(s) and becomes a master. When a discoverable device responds to a page request, it becomes a slave. At this point, the devices aren't paired, but the master can send a request for the slave's friendly name. For example, the friendly name may look like "Bluetooth Headset". [0008] Typically instead of the hexadecimal Bluetooth addresses the list of devices' friendly names is presented to the user at the end of the discovery procedure. At this moment the user can select the Bluetooth wireless device he/she desires to start the communication with. After the user makes a selection, the discovering device can initiate a connection with the newly discovered device using the discovered device's Bluetooth device address. Without device discovery a Bluetooth wireless device would not know the Bluetooth device address of other Bluetooth devices which is required information for establishing a connection between the devices. [0009] The master device is a device that initiates a connection. The device that accepts a connection becomes the slave device. For example, when the telephone initiates the discovery and pairing procedure it behaves as a master and the headset becomes a slave. Next time when the user powers the headset up the headset actively looks for the previously paired telephone, initiates connection to it and becomes a master. Upon accepting connection, the telephone becomes a slave. Furthermore, during the ongoing connection the master/slave roles can be switched if required. [0010] During the discovery process, the devices must be in discovery mode. There may be a toggle, switch or other setting mechanism for making the devices either discovering or discoverable ones. [0011] When the telephone and the headset are delivered to the user as a bundled solution, the devices are not pre-paired. The initial "out-of-the-box" pairing Bluetooth enabled telephones and headsets is required to operate the set, however, the complicated process causes certain difficulties and confusion among the users. [0012] In practice, when a user receives a device such as a headset and a device such as a cellular telephone, the user is required to prepare both devices for discovery and the subsequent authentication process. Unfortunately, there are a substantial number of prompts generated by both devices so that the process of pairing can be difficult for most consumers. Moreover, the communication between the devices being in discoverable mode could be easily accessed by the hackers. Thus, it may be beneficial if the number of steps during the discovery process were reduced or eliminated. SUMMARY [0013] A system, method, and apparatus for reducing or eliminating steps for a discovery process. Bluetooth address data associated with a Bluetooth device can be transferred via an intermediary device. The Bluetooth address data can be converted to a format suitable to reduce or eliminate steps in the discovery process. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0014] FIG. 1 is a diagram of an embodiment of a system including a device to extract the Bluetooth address from packaging indicia of a slave device and a device to inject it into a mobile communication device; [0015] FIG. 2 shows a signal flow diagram of a slave device, the intermediary device and a master device; and [0016] FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of the pre-pairing process described herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION [0017] Described herein are methods, a system and an apparatus for injecting the Bluetooth address into a device that will initiate a pairing procedure at the very first time by an intermediary device to eliminate the discovery process in pairing two Bluetooth enabled devices. [0018] Two Bluetooth enabled devices may be manufactured by different manufacturers and/or in two different locations. At a next stage, sellers or distributors may package two devices together in one package so that they may be sold together. The devices are not paired when they arrive at this stage of their distribution chain. The device, such as a headset, mouse, car kit or any other device can include some sort of indicia, such as a bar code, on its packaging or housing containing its Bluetooth address and in another embodiment the Bluetooth address plus its friendly name. Further, there may be a database associated with a group or lot of devices that maintains their Bluetooth addresses respectively. In any event, the Bluetooth address is readable by the intermediary device without engaging the two devices, master and slave, in the discovery process. Accordingly, the opportunities to accidentally pair an incorrect pair, or to accidentally leave one or the other device in discovery mode and therefore open to hackers, may both be avoided. [0019] Disclosed herein is a method that includes receiving by an intermediary device, Bluetooth address data and as mentioned above, in addition, a friendly name associated with a Bluetooth device without engaging in discovery. In the interest of saving time during the final pair process steps carried out by the user, the addition of the friendly name during the described process is a time saving process. The intermediary device can be a preprogramming station. The Bluetooth address data may be in any format. The intermediary device can convert the Bluetooth address data to a format suitable for storage in reserved memory of a mobile communication device, to form converted Bluetooth address data. The reserved memory may exist in the form of the pre-defined element of the telephone's Electrically-Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM). The reserved memory resides on the telephone and is intended and reserved to store the information about the remote Bluetooth devices that are already paired or will be paired. The intermediary device can then transfer the converted Bluetooth address data to reserved memory in the mobile communication device. A preprogramming station can therefore extract the Bluetooth address from the device packaging indicia such as a bar code, a database, or other place and write it to the dedicated part of the communication device EEPROM. In this manner, discovery during pairing can be reduced or eliminated. Continue reading... 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